The town will get out of the sewage business and a new agency will be in charge of carrying away human waste, if the town’s plans work out.

The Wastewater Management Commission outlined its plans last Monday to greatly expand the town’s sewer system and also overhaul the way it does business.

The commission held a workshop with the Town Council last Monday to outline the commission’s new facilities plan, which calls for connecting 3,450 more homes to sewers and also breaking the commission off from the town to form its own agency.

The changes would take 10 years to complete and would cost $72 million, according to Thomas Parece, the engineer who completed the study.

But the federal government would pay up to 45 percent of that amount if the money is going to a municipality or an agency that serves fewer than 10,000 people, said Leroy Kendricks, the chair of the commission.

Because of that, the Wastewater Management Commission would have to become an independent agency, similar to the North Tiverton Water District and the Stonebridge Water District, Kendricks said.

The overall plan is to increase the number of homes being offered sewers from the current 550 to a total of 4,000. That would increase the town’s flow to the Fall River treatment facility from 90,000 gallons a day to 1.3 million gallons a day, the study showed.

Sewers would be expanded into the Riverside Drive area first, then the Robert Gray neighborhood, the Bay Street neighborhood and then to the Church Street area, the Garden Heights area, the Lepes Road area, the Mill Street area and the North Stafford Road area.

“The next step from here will be to get on the agenda for the next Town Council meeting and present them with the facilities plan for their acceptance,” Kendricks said.

“If they accept it, it will go to the state Department of Environmental Management for review and comments.” Then the General Assembly will be asked to establish a Tiverton Wastewater Management Agency that will give it the legal right to borrow money and sign contracts.

At that point, the two town employees who work for the Wastewater Management Commission would become employees of the new agency, Kendricks said.

“All during that time, in the fall, we will be giving people an education about what we are proposing and why,” Kendricks said. “Then we will go into each neighborhood for a vote.”

Each neighborhood would be considered a separate district and each neighborhood would be allowed to vote to accept or reject sewers. A majority vote of property owners would decide the matter, Kendricks said.

The process would begin with Riverside Drive, where poor soil, small house lots and proximity to Mount Hope Bay results in the most pollution going into the bay from home septic systems. That area also has the highest average costs per home to maintain septic systems, the study showed.

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Part of the educational process will be to make sure homeowners understand the bad choices they are facing. The town is under orders from the DEM to crack down on residential septic systems to eliminate the flow of bacteria and effluent finding its way into Mount Hope Bay, Kendricks said.

Sewers, over 10 or 15 years, will be the cheapest way for homeowners to dispose of wastewater, Kendricks said.

The study showed that homeowners would face costs ranging from $150 to $500 a month to install and maintain septic systems, with difficult sites, like the Riverside Drive area, costing more. The study estimated homeowners will pay about $105 a month in sewer costs over the first 10 years when considering the loan payment on an $11,000 connection fee and $65 in monthly usage fees.

“We are doing everything we can as a commission to make this as cost effective as we can,” Kendricks said.